LET�S COMMUNICATE
Agriculture Communication Newsletter
July 2004, No. 103

Contents

     Write the Right Word
     Online Fraud
     The Core Rules of Netiquette
     New Staff at Your Service in Ag Com
     Answers to Write the Right Word
     Quote of the Month

Write the Right Word

At the recent Association for Communication Excellence (ACE) international meeting, one of the breakout sessions was titled "Grammar is for Lovers � of the Language.� Attendees completed a what-you-already-know quiz before the session. See how you do.

1. The Smith-Lever _______ which created the Extension ______ was passed June 8, 1914.

• a. Act / Service
• b. Act, / Service
• c. Act, / Service,

2. The man ___ bought your house teaches at my school.

• a. that
• b. who
• c. whom
• d. which

3. Their dog Ginger, ____had just had puppies, is 5 years old.

• a.  that
• b. which
• c. who

4. Betty gave it to ____ could use it.

• a. whoever
• b. whomever

5. Many a ____ wanted to be a groom.

• a. groomsman has
• b. groomsmen have

6. The group of boys ___ decided to play.

• a. has
• b. have

7. Jorge is one of those people who ___ many friends.

• a. has
• b. have

8. Jorge is the only one of those people who ___ many friends.

• a. has
• b. have

9. He ___ have gone far.

• a. can�t
• b. couldn�t

10. The flowers smell ____.

• a. sweet
• b. sweetly

Online Fraud

Online fraud (also known as phishing) is common in today's electronic world. Usually disguised as an e-mail from a bank, credit card company, or other financial institution, these con artists do whatever they can to separate you from your account number and PIN.

The e-mail they send is very convincing, and so is the "bank" Web site they link to. Most of these fradulent sites are actual copies of the original that someone has re-created to fool you.

Some red flags to watch for include:

• 1. Receiving an account notice from a bank you don't have an account with
• 2. Your bank e-mailing you for account information (banks don't do this)
• 3. Being sent to a Web site where you are asked for an account number or PIN
• 4. Being called on the phone and asked for an account number and PIN. Never give out your PIN to anyone.

If you believe you have already been scammed, contact your financial institution immediately and report it.

MailFrontier.com offers an online phishing quiz you can take to test your phishing IQ: http://survey.mailfrontier.com/survey/quiztest.html

Jerry Ranum

The Core Rules of Netiquette

In her book Netiquette, Virginia Shea lists 10 core rules. Rule 2 is: Adhere to the same standards of behavior online that you follow in real life.

In real life, most people are fairly law-abiding, either by disposition or because we're afraid of getting caught. In cyberspace, the chances of getting caught sometimes seem slim. And, perhaps because people sometimes forget that there's a human being on the other side of the computer, some people think that a lower standard of ethics or personal behavior is acceptable in cyberspace.

The confusion may be understandable, but these people are mistaken. Standards of behavior may be different in some areas of cyberspace, but they are not lower than in real life.

Be ethical. If you encounter an ethical dilemma in cyberspace, consult the code you follow in real life. Chances are good you'll find the answer.

Breaking the law is bad Netiquette. If you're tempted to do something that's illegal in cyberspace, chances are it's also bad Netiquette.

Some laws are obscure or complicated enough that it's hard to know how to follow them. And in some cases, we're still establishing how the law applies to cyberspace. Two examples are the laws on privacy and copyright. Netiquette mandates that you do your best to act within the laws of society and cyberspace.

We�ll cover rules 3-10 in future issues of Let�s Communicate, but if you can�t wait, see http://www.albion.com/netiquette/corerules.html

New Staff at Your Service in Ag Com

Trina Spaeth rejoined Ag Com last month as distance education specialist. She's available to help you with educational design and technology tools for teaching over the Web, by videoconferencing and via other distance avenues. Contact Trina to brainstorm an idea, develop a program or polish a draft. She's at 231-5162 or tspaeth@ndsuext.nodak.edu .

Ellen Crawford is a new information specialist in Ag Com who will be writing and editing news, publications and other materials. She can be reached at 231-5391 or ecrawfor@ndsuext.nodak.edu . For now, please continue to send news story ideas and drafts to Rich Mattern at 231-6136 or richard.mattern@ndsu.nodak.edu  and educational materials to Sharon Lane at 231-7883 or slane@ndsuext.nodak.edu

Answers to Write the Right Word

Even the professional writers in the session had different opinions, but the presenters went with the majority of several references.

1. The Smith/Lever Act, which created the Extension Service, was passed June 8, 1914.

c.  Clauses beginning with �which� must be separated from the rest of the sentence with a comma, both at the start and the end.

2. The man who bought your house teaches at my school.

b. Use �who� when dealing with people and �that� with objects.

3.  Their dog Ginger, who had just had puppies, is 5 years old.

c. �Who� is the pronoun to use when referring to animals with names.

4. Betty gave it to whoever could use it.

a. A simple way to decide whether to use �who� or �whom� is substitute �he� for �who� and �him� for �whom.�  For example, �Betty gave it because he could use it.�

5. Many a groomsman has wanted to be a groom.

a. The indefinite pronoun is singular, even though it may appear to refer to more than one person.

6. The group of boys has decided to play.

a. When a subject contains a prepositional phrase, the verb must agree with the noun or pronoun before the preposition. In other words, �boys� is describing �the group,� which is considered one item and takes a singular verb.

7. Jorge is one of those people who have many friends.

b. After phrases beginning with �one of the,� �one of these� or �one of those� and ending with a clause introduced by �who,� �which� or �that,� the real subject of the clause is the plural noun or pronoun following �of.� Therefore, it takes a plural verb.

8. Jorge is the only one of those people who has many friends.

a. After the phrase �the only one,� the verb must be singular.

9. He couldn�t have gone far.

b. Helping verbs such as am, are, be, can, could, did, do have, is, may, shall, should and will work with other verbs to express tense or volition. But don�t use can, may, shall or will in the past tense.

10. The flowers smell sweet.

a.  Verbs relating to the senses (feel, smell, taste) require adjectives.

Quote of the Month

Writing should be like a windowpane, clear and transparent. It shouldn't get in the way. Bad writing is like smudging that window. John Rains, Fayetteville (N.C.) Observer